Shooting Of Ex-gang Chief Linked To Drugs

Charles Edward Bey, a onetime South Side Street gang leader, and another man were recovering Monday after being shot in what police described as an

``assassination attempt`` during a power struggle among drug dealers.

Police believe that at least 20 shots from a 9 mm. automatic weapon, possibly a Uzi submachine gun, were fired at the two in an alley behind 4709 S. Michigan Ave. at about 4:10 p.m. Sunday

Bey, 41, of 9118 S. Merrill Ave., and William Highsmith, 36, were both listed in fair condition in Michael Reese Hospital. Bey was shot in the chest, right shoulder and left leg; Highsmith was shot in the right upper leg, right hand and left foot.

``We surmise that the shooting was narcotics related,`` said Capt. James Delancy, commander of Wentworth Area detectives. Both men told detectives they didn`t know who shot them.

Police said the two appparently were lured to the alley, where one or two men opened fire on them.

Witnesses said they heard a rapid volley of gunfire and then saw two men run south in the alley, with one thrusting a gun beneath his jacket. Police said Highsmith ran to a cleaning store at 126 E. 47th St., where he asked employees to summon help.

``It appears to be an assassination attempt,`` said Sgt. Calvin Giles, of the Wentworth District.

It was at least the second attempt on Bey`s life. In March, 1973, he was shot three times with a .30 carbine as he walked near 63d Street and Wentworth Avenue. At the time, police identified Bey as the second ranking leader of the Black P Stone Nation, a street gang then headed by Jeff Fort.

A year earlier Bey, Fort and two other street gang leaders had been convicted of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government of $927,000 by gaining control of a federal job training program in 1967.

Bey was sentenced to four years in prison, but never served any of his sentence. He was free pending various appeals in September, 1974 when U.S. District Judge Hubert Will reduced the prison term to probation.

In 1971, Bey and six other street gang members were acquitted by a jury after being charged with the 1970 murder of Detective James Alfano of the gang intelligence unit. Alfano was slain in a South Side alley about 4 miles southeast of where Bey was shot Sunday.